I Want You Back
by Aqueendia
Summary: A HarryxGinny one-shot, possibly a two-shot in the future? Loosely based on the song by The Jackson 5. R&R?


**I Want You Back**

In the year and some months since the Battle of Hogwarts, the members of the wizarding world had experienced an almost surreal peace. They were slowly resuming their old ways as the idea that Voldemort might somehow return faded away, leaving them more cheerful than they had been the first time they had believed Voldemort had been destroyed. Hermione and Ginny had finished their seventh year at Hogwarts several months previously, and were now enjoying the summer.

On a warm July evening, Ginny left the burrow for Ron and Hermione's flat, where she spent every Saturday night. Hermione was her closest friend, and they made sure that Ron didn't interfere with their plans. He even chose to join them more often than not, as did Harry, who Ginny saw very little of anymore. Those Saturday nights were the only time she spent with him anymore, but she craved more. She missed what they had had at Hogwarts, over two years ago now, nearly three.

When Ginny arrived, she saw that Harry was there, and her stomach flip-flopped. Somehow, she never got used to seeing him, and she always seemed to have butterflies in her stomach when he was around, even if she wasn't nervous. As she entered the flat, Harry went into the kitchen to say something to Ron and Hermione, leaving Ginny in the sitting room. She sat down on the couch and clasped her hands in her lap, waiting for someone to return.

"Hey," Harry said a few minutes later, coming into the sitting room and taking a place on the couch beside Ginny. Her heartbeat seemed to double, and she was almost afraid to look at him. She could feel her face turning red, and could hardly understand why. She hadn't been this shy around Harry since she was eleven. Taking a deep, silent breathe, she turned to flash him a smile. "Hey."

"There's a party down at the Leaky Cauldron," Harry said tentatively. "I'm going with Ron and Hermione… Do you want to come?" He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up, something that Ginny recognized as a sign of nerves. She had seen him do the same thing many a time, whenever he was nervous.

"Sure," Ginny said, smiling again. Maybe she could make something happen tonight. She had been taking it slow with Harry, and they still weren't in an official relationship. They were barely anything at all. She didn't want to push it, because after the Battle of Hogwarts, things had been hard for Harry. He was still getting over the deaths of his friends, and getting used to the idea that he was no longer being hunted by a maniac. Ginny was willing to wait, but she wanted to be with him more than anything. She wasn't sure how much longer she could wait, before she did something stupid.

As they stood up, Ginny glanced down at her clothes. She was definitely not dressed for a party, but she didn't want to go home and change. If her mother saw her, she'd start asking questions… Ginny wasn't really in the mood to talk about Harry to her mother. "I'm going to go change. I hope Hermione doesn't mind if I borrow something."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You look fine."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered. Normally she didn't care about how she looked, but tonight she wanted to make sure that she made an impression. She wanted to make sure that in a room full of pretty girls, she was the only one that Harry was looking at. Ginny hurried down the hall to Ron and Hermione's room and opened the door to Hermione's closet.

Disappointingly, but not unsurprising, Hermione had a very small selection of appropriate clothes for her plan, and none of them were something she could wear in public. Besides that, Ginny wasn't sure she wanted to wear something that Hermione had used to catch her brother's attention. She'd have to come up with another idea.

A plan came surprisingly quickly. Pulling the closet door shut behind her and twisting the lock, Ginny peeled her t-shirt and jeans off, and kicked her shoes into the corner. She bent down and pulled her wand out of her jeans pocket and thought for a moment. Then, with a few simple waves of her wand, her clothes had been transformed into something party-appropriate.

Hurriedly, Ginny pulled on a skin-tight green tank-top and a jean miniskirt. A thin strip of her stomach was visible, but not too much to make her feel uncomfortable. Ginny was used to wearing jeans and t-shirts, not anything quite so revealing as this, but she needed this outfit to make Harry wonder. Then, rather than transforming her shoes into heels, Ginny slipped her black and white Converse back on. Before returning to the sitting room, Ginny ran a brush through her waist-length red hair and decided to leave it down, rather than put it up.

As she made her way down the hall to where Harry was waiting, Ginny started to feel shy. Suddenly she was worried about what Harry would say. What if he hated it? There was no turning back now, though, so Ginny shoved the thought away and joined Harry in the sitting room. "Alright, I'm ready," she announced. "Where are my brother and Hermione?"

"They already le-," Harry began, glancing upwards. His sentence cut off when he saw Ginny. For a moment, he looked confused, and then just shocked. He didn't say anything for several moments, and Ginny was tempted to run back to the bedroom and change. Then Harry cleared his throat, and said, "They already left." He looked Ginny up and down and asked, "Those are Hermione's clothes?"

Ginny shook her head. "Hermione didn't have anything good," she said, making a face. "So I just fixed my own clothes. Do you like it?"

"You… look…," Harry said, trying to decide what to say. "Really good," he finally announced.

"Thanks," Ginny said, slightly disappointed in Harry's description. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure," Harry said, standing up and offering her his hand.

"Harry," Ginny said, laughing, "I've known how to apparate on my own for over a year now."

"Oh, right," Harry said, rubbing the back of his neck, his sign of embarrassment. "I just thought…"

"I'll go with you," Ginny said quickly. "So I don't get lost or anything."

"I doubt you'll get lost," Harry said, but he offered his hand again. Ginny took it slowly, watching Harry's face carefully. His green eyes met hers, and they started at one another for several long moments, their hands clasped. Then Harry turned away quickly, and adjusted his grip on her hand, before turning on the spot and dragging them both into the dark nothingness of apparition.

When they landed outside the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny didn't want to drop Harry's hand, but she forced herself to release him, and she followed him inside. Tom, the old bartender, had retired and turned his pub over to some relative or other. Inside, there was very little light and pounding music. The room wasn't packed yet, but there were a good number of people. Ginny couldn't see Hermione or her brother anywhere, but she didn't care. Harry nudged her, and leaned over to murmur in her ear. "Do you want a drink?"

"Just butterbeer," Ginny said, following as Harry crossed the room to the bar. They had to do some pushing and shoving to get to the bar, but they finally made it. They sat down next to each other, and Harry ordered two butterbeers. Ginny wondered if it was significant that they had both decided not to get any firewhiskey. Their butterbeers had barely arrived when a boy of about nineteen sat down on the other side of Ginny.

"Hey," he said, grinning at Ginny. "Do you want to dance?"

"I-," Ginny said, glancing behind her at Harry. She could see that he was extremely amused.

"Go ahead," Harry said, waving her away.

"Well, sure," Ginny told the boy, deciding that she would try to make Harry jealous. It was immature, maybe, but she was desperate for his attention. As he led her out to what had become the dance floor, Ginny asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Blake," he answered.

"Ginny," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

It didn't take long for Ginny to realize that she didn't want to be anywhere near Blake, let alone dance with him. After the first song ended, Ginny pried herself out of his arms and made a dash for the bar. Her heart sank when she came to it and found Harry sitting with a very pretty brunette. She watched from afar as the brunette stroked his arm, laughing at something he said. Anger flared up in Ginny, and she wanted desperately to get the girl away from Harry.

As she went to sit beside them, the brunette stood up and pulled Harry along with her. Before they could get very far, though, Ginny ran over and grabbed Harry's arm. She looked over her shoulder, as if she were being followed, and said, "Harry, please don't leave me alone! He might come back for me."

Harry laughed. "The blond?"

Ginny nodded. "He was a creep. Please don't let him get near me," she begged. "Imagine what Ron would say if he found out you let someone like that within ten feet of me."

"You're right," Harry said. He turned to the brunette and said, "Sorry about the dance. It'll have to wait." Ginny could see the relief on his face; he hated dancing.

"'Zis is fine," the girl purred, her voice heavy with a French accent. _Just like Phlegm,_ Ginny thought disgustedly, making another face. "Ve vill just talk some more, yes?"

Annoyed, Ginny followed them back to the bar, and they all sat down. It was painful to listen to the two of them flirting, albeit Harry was a little awkward. The French girl, who was called Marie, laughed at nothing, even when Harry wasn't joking. It was pathetic, and fake. Ginny couldn't stand girls like that, and she especially couldn't stand it when they were throwing themselves all over Harry.

After a short while, Marie suggested going somewhere more private, "away from prying eyes", as she put it. "And zen maybee you come home vith me," she said with a sly smile.

This was more than Ginny could stand. She got to her feet and moved around Harry so she was standing in front of Marie. "I'm only going to say this one time, Frenchy. Back off. Move on. Find someone else. He's not available."

"According to whom?" Marie asked, narrowing her eyes in a glare.

"Me," Ginny said. "Now leave, before I make you."

One look at Ginny's face was all it took to realize how serious she was. Marie hesitated, still glaring at Ginny, but finally stood up and stalked off. She continuously glared over her shoulder at Ginny until she disappeared into the crowd. Ginny doubted she'd have any trouble finding a new boy to hang all over.

"Wow, Ginny," Harry said from behind her. "What was all that about?"

Embarrassment flooded through Ginny as she realized what she had said in front of him. This night wasn't going the way she planned at all. She turned to face him slowly, knowing her face was nearly as red as her hair with embarrassment and shame. "I'm sorry," she said, not daring to meet his eye. "I just couldn't stand watching you flirt with her, it was driving me mad. Nothing has gone right tonight at all, I just wanted to-"

"Ginny," Harry said. Ginny couldn't tell from his voice how he was feeling. She raised her eyes slowly; she was afraid of what she might see in his gaze. His green eyes were unreadable, and she spit out a stream of nervous babbling.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "But Harry, I've been waiting around for you for ages, and I really think that I deserve _something_ from you. I don't know how you feel at all, and-"

"Ginny," he said again. "I'm the one who should be sorry. You're right." He reached his arm out and grabbed her hand, before saying, "Let's go. We need to talk."

Those last four words rang in Ginny's head as they apparated away from the Leaky Cauldron, to Harry's flat in the heart of London. It was several miles away from Ron and Hermione's flat, and Ginny doubted either one of them would stop in that night. They'd probably go straight home.

When they arrived, Ginny sat down on Harry's couch, unable to decide whether this talk was going to go good or bad. The need for a private conversation could be either one, and Ginny hoped he hadn't brought her here just to tell her that he didn't care about her anymore. She waited rather impatiently while Harry went into the kitchen and made coffee. When he finally brought out two cups and sat down next to her, Ginny was sure she was going to burst.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours. Ginny shifted, turning her body so it faced away from him. Suddenly, she felt sick. She didn't want to hear what he had to say anymore. "Ginny?"

Apprehensively, Ginny turned so that she was facing him again. She jumped a little when she found his face mere inches away. His emerald green eyes were dazzling, and Ginny wanted nothing more than to reach out and run her hand through his messy hair. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, instead of giving her a speech about how he had moved on and that she needed to do the same, Harry kissed her. It reminded her strongly of the kiss they had shared in her room on Harry's seventeenth birthday. That was nearly two years ago, but suddenly it was as if no time had passed and nothing had changed.

After too short a time, Harry pulled away. "I've missed you."

"What about Marie?" Ginny asked, pulling another face. She wished she'd had the chance to hex the dumb French girl.

Harry shrugged. "She came up to me, you know. I was just talking to her to annoy you, really."

"It worked."

Harry laughed. "Maybe a little too well. I'm glad it did, though. I wanted to talk to you tonight, but I didn't know what to say."

"What took so long?" Ginny demanded, feeling the sudden urge to hit him.

"I wasn't sure if you still wanted me," he admitted, adjusting his glasses.

Ginny slide over the last few inches, so their legs were pressed together, and leaned into him. "I'll always want you," she whispered, slipping her arms around him in a tight hug. She was thrilled when Harry wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. They sat like that for a while, feeling one another's presence and reveling in it. Ginny had missed him so much that it had hurt, causing a constant ache in her heart. Now she had him back, and she was never going to let go.

"I love you, Ginny," Harry said. "Forever and always."

"And I love you," Ginny replied, leaning back some so she could meet his eyes. The emerald green was even brighter than usual, and there was a grin on his face. Ginny sighed and pulled away, getting to her feet. "I have to go home soon, or Mum will murder me."

Harry frowned and stood up as well. "I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, his right hand resting on her shoulder, fingering her red hair.

"Or," Ginny said, imitating a French accent, "maybe you come home vith me."

Harry grinned and answered her with a kiss.

**A/N: I'm terrible at endings, sorry. But I hope you liked it, otherwise. Review it?  
And before anyone says anything about Hannah Abbott taking over the Leaky Cauldron, I doubt she'd become the owner at 18 or 19.**


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